CryptoSusshttp://cryptosuss.com
Mon, 08 Oct 2018 15:00:43 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.10http://cryptosuss.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/cropped-Untitled-design-1-32x32.pngCryptoSusshttp://cryptosuss.com
3232The Bitcoin ETFhttp://cryptosuss.com/the-bitcoin-etf/
Mon, 08 Oct 2018 15:00:43 +0000http://cryptosuss.com/?p=430What is an ETF? ETF stand for Exchange Traded Fund. An Exchange Traded Fund is is a marketable security that tracks an index, a commodity, bonds, or a basket of assets like an index fund. However, unlike a mutual fund, an ETF trades like a

ETF stand for Exchange Traded Fund. An Exchange Traded Fund is is a marketable security that tracks an index, a commodity, bonds, or a basket of assets like an index fund. However, unlike a mutual fund, an ETF trades like a common stock on a stock exchange. The price of an ETF can fluctuate throughout the day as they are being bought and sold.

Think of an ETF as an instrument that owns the underlying assets. This could be gold, stocks, bonds, oil or currency and divides ownership of those assets up into shares. In the case of cryptocurrencies, the fund would own underlying digital assets. It would then create and divide up shares for people to purchase.

These shares can then be bought, sold and traded by shareholders. It is important to note though that the shareholders of the ETF do not directly own or have claim to the underlying investment of the fund; rather, they indirectly own the assets.

The ownership of shares in the fund can be easily bought, sold and transferred. Just like a stock is traded on a public stock exchange.

Bitcoin ETF

Since the last major bull run of the cryptocurrency market in 2017, there has been much talk about introducing a Bitcoin ETF. This call has been made by many financial institutions in order to allow their customers to trade Bitcoin through an easy to use investment vehicle.

Due to the possibility of a Bitcoin ETF being introduced in the coming months bodes many new possibilities. Many hypothesise that we will see a large injection of institutional capital into the cryptocurrency market once approved.

The case for a Bitcoin ETF is multi faceted. The creation and approval of a Bitcoin ETF would open the gates for retail and institutional investors alike to purchase and part take in the cryptocurrency market as a whole. The instrument of an ETF would serve to open up the market to a whole host of people who would otherwise not enter it. Currently there is no easy way for institutional investors to readily allocate parts of their portfolio to this space. The introduction of an ETF would give them a means to hold Bitcoin without the hassle of using current exchanges and sending money to multiple accounts.

As we mentioned already, it would be the ETF producers who purchase the actual underlying asset. They can then sell shares in their fund to investors. This would then lead to a whole new demographic of people getting exposure to the cryptocurrency market. It would also lead to a healthier distribution of the underlying cryptocurrency amongst retail investors, ETF producers and existing holders in the market.

ETF Submissions

The ETF put forward by the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) appears to be the strongest case put forth to date. The CBOE Bitcoin ETF is a physically backed bitcoin ETF proposed by the CBOE exchange. Being physically backed means that when investors buy shares in the fund, the fund then buys the underlying asset, Bitcoin.

To be even more precise, the CBOE Bitcoin ETF is a submission by CBOE owned BZX exchange. It has been made to the SEC to list SolidX Bitcoin Shares issued by the VanEck SolidX Bitcoin Trust. CBOE acquired Bats BZX exchange in March 2017.

SEC & ETF Approval

The SEC has already rejected a number of ETF’s and have also postponed making decisions about others. One of these rejections came in the form of the Winklevoss ETF, from the famous twins who co-founded Facebook. They subsequently appealed the rejection, only for the SEC to reject it again.

This ETF was rejected on the basis that bitcoin markets are not resistant to manipulation:

“…because the underlying commodities market for this proposed commodity-trust ETP (Exchange Traded Product) is not demonstrably resistant to manipulation.”

“The Commission believes that the significant markets for bitcoin are unregulated and that, therefore, the Exchange has not entered into, and would currently be unable to enter into, the type of surveillance-sharing agreement that helps address concerns about the potential for fraudulent or manipulative acts and practices in the market for the Shares.”

The Future

The case for a Bitcoin ETF is being made by many financial institutions. It is really only a matter of time before one of them is approved. The thought is that the overbearing implication of this will be that it makes it so much easier for institutional money to enter the market. This would see a huge injection of capital into the market. Financial institutions are now coming under ever increasing pressure to have exposure to digital assets.

]]>What Are Non-Fungible Tokens?http://cryptosuss.com/what-are-non-fungible-tokens/
Fri, 05 Oct 2018 15:00:34 +0000http://cryptosuss.com/?p=424Non-Fungible tokens is a term you may not have come across in the crypto space. You may however, have heard about projects that employ this type of token. To understand what a non-fungible token is, we must understand what fungibility is: In economics, fungibility is

]]>Non-Fungible tokens is a term you may not have come across in the crypto space. You may however, have heard about projects that employ this type of token.

To understand what a non-fungible token is, we must understand what fungibility is:

In economics, fungibility is the property of a good or a commodity whose individual units are essentially interchangeable.

If a good, asset or token in this case, is fungible, then it can be interchanged or replaced by another identical token. Being non-fungible therefore means that a token is absolutely unique and is distinguishable from any other token.

The $USD is fungible in nature. $1 is exchangeable for $1. These individual dollars are essentially indistinguishable from one another. Fungibility is a core characteristic of all fiat currencies.

Non-fungible tokens are therefore completely unique expressions of an asset on a blockchain. In reading and learning about the Ethereum platform, you may have heard about Crypto Kitties. Collectibles are one early implementation of non-fungible tokens and the analogy of baseball cards is often used to describe how non-fungible collectables work. Many people are familiar with the idea of limited edition baseball cards. Non-fungible tokens work in the same way and are unique representations of an asset.

Working with Blockchain technology, these unique tokens are public and verifiable on the blockchain network. Non-fungible tokens create a form of digital scarcity that can be verified without the need for a centralised authority to confirm validity. It is this fundamental scarcity that gives the tokens their value.

Project Examples

Crypto Kitties

The famous Crypto Kitties projects is widely known across the cryptocurrency space. Back in December of 2017, the Crypto Kitties game created a huge amount of congestion on the Ethereum network, causing it to reach all time highs in transaction throughput and slow it down significantly. However, it is the perfect example of a non-fungible token.

“CryptoKitties is a game centered around breedable, collectible, and oh-so-adorable creatures we call CryptoKitties! Each cat is one-of-a-kind and 100% owned by you; it cannot be replicated, taken away, or destroyed.”

As with Crypto Kitties, Non-fungible tokens can be created on the Ethereum network. Moat NFT’s utilise Ethereum’s ERC-721 protocol. The ERC-721 protocol sets out a standard set of criteria and functions in the form of a smart contract that must be met to be owned, managed, and traded.

Decentraland

Another project in the crypto space that utilises non-fungible tokens is Decentraland. A play on words for decentralised land, Decentraland issues unique plots of virtual land on the blockchain. According to their website, it is a virtual world that runs on open standards:

“…you can purchase land through the Ethereum blockchain, creating an immutable record of ownership. No one can limit what you build. With full control over your land, you can create unique experiences unlike anything in existence. Your imagination is the limit: go to a casino, watch live music, attend a workshop, shop with friends, start a business, test drive a car, visit an underwater resort, and much, much more”

What’s more is that Decentraland is fully immersible through Virtual Reality (VR). You can use your own VR headset to become fully immersed in a 3D interactive world.

Again, with Decentraland, you lay claim to your own unique plot of virtual land. Utilising non-fungible tokens for a virtual world is a very interesting use of this technology. With the rising popularity of Virtual Reality, virtual land on the blockchain my just be good investment for years to come.

Other Use Cases

There are a whole host of other use cases of non-fungible tokens. Anywhere that unique

Ticketing – Plane tickets, concert tickets, tickets to go and see your favourite sports team. All of these are unique and can be represented on the blockchain with a non-fungible token. Expressing tickets on the blockchain with NFT’s would also help to reduce the amount of fraud ticketing for events.

Property Titles – This is another area that is ripe for disruption. Smart contracts and NFT’s can be used to uniquely express ownership of real estate as well as land on the blockchain.

Art – As is the nature of the digital world we now live in, a lot of art that is created is digital in nature. But how can we prevent digital copies being made of digital art? Non Fungible Tokens can represent the original unique pieces of digital art and prevent the copy, distribution and sale of counterfeits. Projects like Po.et are vying to make this use case a reality for artists.

Identity – Our identity is intrinsically unique to each of us. Again, NFT’s can help to create a digital representation of our unique identity on the blockchain. Over 16 million people were victims of identity fraud in 2016 in the USA alone. Projects like The Key are solving the problem of identity fraud on the blockchain.

We are still in the early stages of not only blockchain, but the use of Non-Fungible Tokens. Some of the use cases mentioned above serve to solve real world problems by creating a more transparent and immutable way of tracking validity of assets. No doubt, future use cases will also emerge, but the time and cost savings that could be achieved with these examples could be very compelling.

]]>An Introduction to Monerohttp://cryptosuss.com/an-introduction-to-monero/
Wed, 03 Oct 2018 15:00:24 +0000http://cryptosuss.com/?p=421We have spoken about privacy coins and Monero briefly before in our introduction to privacy coins article. The use cases for privacy coins will likely increase over the next few years as the cryptocurrency market grows. The open source nature of Bitcoin and its public

]]>We have spoken about privacy coins and Monero briefly before in our introduction to privacy coins article. The use cases for privacy coins will likely increase over the next few years as the cryptocurrency market grows. The open source nature of Bitcoin and its public blockchain infrastructure means that transactions can readily be traced back to a particular user through wallet addresses.

The rapidly evolving nature of technology, not just in the blockchain and crypto space, means that we often give up personal information and data in exchange for convenience. Large tech giants like Google, Facebook, Amazon and many more collect and leverage our data for advertisers, market research and much much more.

As we move towards a decentralised digital world, it gives us the opportunity to take back some element of privacy. We can take back control of our data and who we share it with. We can also take back privacy related to out finances and the transactions that we make. This is where privacy coins like Monero come in.

What is Monero?

Monero is largest of all the privacy coins (in terms of market cap at just over $1.9 Billion) and is generally considered the “father” of privacy coins. It was originally launched in April 2014, and it is designed to be a private and untraceable digital currency.

As per the Monero website:

Monero is a decentralized cryptocurrency, meaning it is secure digital cash operated by a network of users.

Monero is fungible because it is private by default. Units of Monero cannot be blacklisted by vendors or exchanges due to their association in previous transactions.

Monero utilises an obfuscated public ledger, meaning anybody can broadcast or send transactions, but no outside observer can tell the source, amount or destination. This is how it differs from the likes of Bitcoin and Litecoin.

Bitcoin actually works in a manner which is extremely transparent. Every single Bitcoin transaction is public, traceable and permanently stored on the Bitcoin network.

Therefore, Bitcoin is only anonymous in the sense that the name behind the address is not placed on the blockchain. If your real world identity is linked to a Bitcoin address, through KYC or AML on an exchange for example, then your anonymity can be compromised.

How does Monero work?

Monero utilises technology called Ring Confidential Transactions to protect privacy and anonymity in three ways:

Monero uses ring signatures, ring confidential transactions, and stealth addresses to obfuscate the origins, amounts, and destinations of all transaction.

Ring signatures mix a spender’s transaction with a group of others, making it exponentially more difficult to establish a link between each subsequent transaction.

Stealth addresses generated for each transaction make it impossible to discover the actual destination address by anyone other than the sender and receiver.

Ring confidential transactions mechanism hides the amount that is transferred from sender to receiver.

The Monero Team

In keeping with their theme of privacy the Monero core developer team has seven members. Five of which are anonymous and use pseudonymous names and email addresses. Riccardo Spagni, who goes by @fluffypony on Twitter is one of two core developers who are publicly known. Riccardo does much of the PR work and promotion of Monero.

The project does boast well over 400 additional contributors on top of the core development team. Further details about contributors and documentation can be found on their GitHub.

]]>Wall Street & Cryptocurrencyhttp://cryptosuss.com/wall-street-cryptocurrency/
Mon, 01 Oct 2018 16:25:42 +0000http://cryptosuss.com/?p=4142018 has been an interesting year so far in crypto. We had the euphoric highs of the market in January and February, only to enter a bear market shortly after. We have continued to downtrend, moving from a market cap of over $800 Billion right

]]>2018 has been an interesting year so far in crypto. We had the euphoric highs of the market in January and February, only to enter a bear market shortly after. We have continued to downtrend, moving from a market cap of over $800 Billion right down to under $200 Billion. It has been tough for many HODLers and especially for those who only entered the market for the first time at the start of the year.

With that being said, many large financial institutions and wall street are preparing themselves for the next market cycle. The next bull run will surely see prices rising to near all time highs once again. Wall street has always had a funny relationship with crypto. We had JP Morgan CEO, Jamie Dimon professed last year that Bitcoin is a “scam” and saying he had “no interest” in it. As the market continued to grow however, it became hard for wall street to ignore its significance. The attitude of many banks towards the digital asset economy has changed significantly since 2017 and we are now seeing them embrace blockchain and cryptocurrency offerings.

Another interesting shift we have seen is top talent and executives from wall street going the other way and joining blockchain and cryptocurrency projects and investment firms. Many of these executives recognise the opportunity that this technology is going to play in the next decade. They are positioning themselves to bring about this new wave of innovation.

JP Morgan Chase

As we mentioned, CEO Jamie Dimon was not a fan of Bitcoin and crypto when asked about it in 2017. He even went so far as threatening to fire any traders within JP Morgan who were selling Bitcoin on behalf of clients. The company began to change its tune in 2018 however when they announced that they would consider offering clients access to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s Bitcoin futures market.

Dimon also said he regretted his comments in 2017 while maintaining that he had a “lack of interest” in the overall crypto space. JP Morgan’s annual report to the SEC in Febraury of 2018 also began to reflect their new stance on crypto stating:

“Both financial institutions and their non-banking competitors face the risk that payment processing and other services could be disrupted by technologies, such as cryptocurrencies, that require no intermediation.”

JP Morgan Chase continue to explore both Blockchain technology and cryptocurrency digital assets. In May, they filed a patent for a peer-to-peer (p2p) payment system using blockchain technology for intra and inter-bank settlements. They also created a role entitled “head of crypto-assets strategy” within their organisation.

Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs has been dabbling in cryptocurrency for the past few months. They initially refuted any ideas that they were exploring the digital assets realm. Since May of 2018 though, Goldman Sachs executive Rana Yared confirmed that the company intends to buy and sell Bitcoin, having concluded that cryptocurrency is “not a fraud”.

With growing interest in the crypto space from Goldman’s clients, they hired cryptocurrency trader Justin Schmidt back in April. Other executives have moved the opposite way. Former Goldman Sachs executive Breanne Madigan having moved to cryptocurrency wallet Blockchain.com in April also.

In June, Goldman then confirmed they planned to launch a cryptocurrency derivatives trading desk. Their COO, David Solomon, also stated they are already helping customers clear Bitcoin futures.

Just this week too, Goldman Sachs startup Circle, the Boston-based crypto finance company, has gone live with its stablecoin called the US Dollar Coin, or USDC. This is the first cryptocurrency to be released by a major financial institution.

Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley has also had an interesting relationship with blockchain technology in particular. They have apparently been using Blockchain technology as early as March of 2016 to maintain backup records and process transactions.

The cryptocurrency market on the other hand is a different animal. Once the market began taking off in 2017 Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman stated that:

A few months later they announced that they were helping clients clear Bitcoin Futures contracts. They also speculated that financial markets would move towards the use of cryptocurrencies in the future.

“Over the coming years, we think that the market focus could turn increasingly toward cross trades between cryptocurrencies/tokens, which would transact via distributed ledgers only and not via the banking system.”

New York Stock Exchange

We have already written about how the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the owners of the NYSE, are launching Bakkt. Bakkt is being created as a regulated, global ecosystem for digital assets. They want to allow consumers and institutions to buy, sell, store and spend digital assets on a seamless global network. Bakkt’s first use case will be for the trading and conversion of Bitcoin against traditional fiat currencies. They endeavour to launch as early as November 2018.

The Future of Digital Asset Trading

Such is the progression of technology in the crypto space, it is now moving at a pace that big banks and Wall Street can’t ignore. It is now coming to a stage where it is a risk for these financial institutions to not have exposure to digital assets like Bitcoin. They already know this and have now began taking action to put in place the necessary trading desks, tools and people to transition and benefit from the shift towards a more digital economy.

As the pace of innovation continues to increase in the blockchain and crypto space, wall street will continue to put in place measures to close the gap. It will be very interesting to see which institutions embrace digital assets wholeheartedly and if the others will follow suit. This could lead to a huge amount of institutional money flooding the cryptocurrency markets over the coming months.

]]>An In Depth Look at Coinbasehttp://cryptosuss.com/an-in-depth-look-at-coinbase/
Fri, 28 Sep 2018 15:00:54 +0000http://cryptosuss.com/?p=404Coinbase has become the most popular cryptocurrency exchange in the United States over the past 24 months and continues to grow and state its presence on a global scale. With such incredible growth, they have also had their fair share of controversy. Coinbase is a

]]>Coinbase has become the most popular cryptocurrency exchange in the United States over the past 24 months and continues to grow and state its presence on a global scale. With such incredible growth, they have also had their fair share of controversy.

However, Coinbase serves a very important function in the cryptocurrency market however. Being one of the exchanges that allows users to deposit traditional Fiat currencies, Coinbase acts as an entry point for new people to enter the cryptocurrency market. This is in contrast to exchanges like Binance, for example, who only serve as a crypto-to-crypto exchange.

Coinbase have made huge efforts over the past 12-24 months to be extremely compliant with regulators in the United States. They are positioning themselves as a key proponent for Americans and others to enter cryptocurrency in a trustworthy and regulated manner.

Early History

Coinbase was originally founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam. Armstrong is still the current acting CEO. After going through the Y Combinator startup incubator programme, Coinbase attracted investment from a number of venture capital firms such as Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures, Ribbit Capital and even the New York Stock Exchange. Since launching, Coinbase has allowed users to buy and sell Bitcoin through bank transfers. This has played a huge role in their success to date. By 2014, the company had grown to 1 Million users and now in September of 2018, they have an estimated 20 Million registered users.

They rebranded their Coinbase Exchange to the Global Digital Asset Exchange (GDAX) in 2014, and have recently rebranded this again to Coinbase Pro.

In 2016, Armstrong posted about the vision and mission of Coinbase and how they want to impact the world. It is clear that Coinbase understand the impact that the new digital economy is going to have on a global scale and expressed their vision accordingly:

“Digital currency will bring about more innovation, efficiency, and equality of opportunity in the world by creating an open financial system.”

Couple this with their mission:

“The mission of Coinbase is to create an open financial system for the world.”

They intend on doing this by bing the easiest place to buy and sell digital currency. Since inception, they really have been aiding the masses in doing this by creating the on ramp for the general population to enter cryptocurrency. They have strived and continued to build relationships with regulators and banking institutions around the world.

Listings

Coinbase have also recently expressed interest in listing a number of different tokens on their exchange. In a blog post in mid July they announced they are exploring the idea of adding Cardano, Basic Attention Token, Stellar Lumens, Zcash, and 0x. Many have hypothesized that this announcement was an effort to compensate for any sudden future listings they might make.

This is because when then initially listed Bitcoin Cash on the exchange on December 20th 2017, there was much speculation about its sudden addition and possible insider trading. The BCH/USD trade pairing went live for 5 mins before being taken down, only to return a day later.

Coinbase has also just recently created a new asset listing process aimed at accelerating the listing process for new projects onto their exchange. Their new Digital Asset Framework will allow people to submit listing applications which will be considered and satisfied in a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction manner. According to their blog post in relation to the new Digital Asset Framework “listing announcements will become more frequent, we expect to publicly announce the addition of new assets only at or near the time of public launch across one or more Coinbase products.”

Coinbase Custody

Coinbase are also making moves to bring institutional money and investment into the cryptocurrency space. As per their announcement in early July, Coinbase Custody’s mission is to make digital currency investment accessible to every eligible financial institution and hedge fund in the world. Coinbase Custody provides secure storage of digital assets for institutions in both the US and Europe and they hope to expand this to Asia by the end of 2018 too.

Just as we now see many banks and financial institutions preparing themselves for an increase in digital asset trading, Coinbase custody are setting themselves up as a trusted broker to deliver products and services that are tailored to their unique needs.

Coinbase.com itself is one of the easiest ways to purchase digital assets if you are new to cryptocurrencies. There are options to purchase using a credit/debit card or to use bank transfer. It must be noted that purchases with credit/debit card will incur higher fees over funding it through your bank account.

As we mentioned above, Coinbase recently rebranded GDAX.com to Coinbase Pro. This is Coinbase’s exchange offering where they have markets for the five cryptocurrencies we listed above. The exchange interface on Coinbase Pro is professional, intuitive and relatively easy to navigate. Users on Coinbase Pro will also incur less maker and taker fees than on coinbase.com. Deposit and withdrawal fees for digital assets is also free on Coinbase Pro.

Going forward

Coinbase continues to play an extremely important role in the overall cryptocurrency ecosystem. Being a facilitator and on-ramp for people to access this new paradigm cannot be understated. Although centralised exchanges go somewhat against the decentralised nature of Bitcoin and most cryptocurrencies, we see this as a necessary step towards gaining adoption of these digital assets on a large scale.

Many projects are now building out decentralised exchanges. However, the question of how Anti Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) processes will work with these decentralised offerings is still very much unknown. Coinbase prides itself on working closely and complying with regulators, especially with AML and KYC, so it will be interesting to see if they will dip their toe into creating a decentralised exchange.

Coinbase continue to grow and flourish. With backing and investment from top venture capital firms they will no doubt continue to dominate the cryptocurrency exchange space in the United States. It seems they are preparing themselves to add a much greater offering of digital assets with the launch of their new Digital Asset Framework. We will likely see many more trading pairs added to their exchange throughout 2019.

]]>An Introduction To Litecoinhttp://cryptosuss.com/what-is-litecoin/
Wed, 26 Sep 2018 15:00:31 +0000http://cryptosuss.com/?p=398Litecoin currently stands as the world’s 7th largest cryptocurrency with a market cap of just over $3 Billion dollars. Often dubbed as the silver to Bitcoin’s gold, Litecoin has been one of the longest established crypto project that has weathered a number of bear markets

]]>Litecoin currently stands as the world’s 7th largest cryptocurrency with a market cap of just over $3 Billion dollars. Often dubbed as the silver to Bitcoin’s gold, Litecoin has been one of the longest established crypto project that has weathered a number of bear markets a tough times to remain relevant in the space.

As outlined on the Litecoin website “Litecoin is a peer-to-peer Internet currency that enables instant, near-zero cost payments to anyone in the world”. If this sounds familiar to Bitcoin, that is because it is. Litecoin is based on the Bitcoin codebase and can be classified as a digital currency.

Litecoin’s Selling Point

Litecoin was founded by Charlie Lee, who famously sold all his Litecoin at market highs in 2017, but we will come back to that later. He wanted to create a more lightweight version of Bitcoin and intended to do this by reducing the amount of time it required to confirm new transactions. Litecoin employs a 2.5 minute transaction confirmation time as compared to Bitcoin’s 10 minutes.

The second thing he wanted to alter was the mining algorithm in order to allow more people to participate in the Litecoin network. Litecoin mining therefore uses the scrypt algorithm, which is more energy intensive than Bitcoin’s Sha-256. With Sha-256, the only way that Bitcoin is now profitable to mine is with ASIC mining GPUs. These expensive GPU’s make it hard for people with lower access to capital to participate in the Bitcoin network. Lee did not wish for LItecoin to become dominated by ASICs and so, created an algorithm that was less efficient for ASICs and more accessible to everyone else. It is very much still possible to mine Litecoin with ASICs but scrypt gives smaller player the opportunity to do so also.

Charlie Lee

Mr. Lee (@satoshiLite on Twitter) has been leading the Litecoin project since its inception. As we mentioned above, Charlie sold all of his Litecoin holdings in December of 2017. The move caused much speculation as he sold all his Litecoin near market highs at $320 each. Today, Litecoin sits around $54 per coin. Charlie’s move irked many people at the time with them believing he was cashing out on the phenomenal run up in price of Litecoin. While they may be right, Lee has justified his move on many levels and still remains 100% committed to the Litecoin project today.

While many criticised Lee for this move, it can also be seen as a way to further decentralise power within the Litecoin project. We know at this stage that decentralisation is at the core of what most cryptocurrency projects are about.

Litecoin in 2018

Like much of the crypto projects this year, Litecoin has had quite the fall from grace since the beginning of 2018. The recent bear market has raised a number of questions about the validity of a number of projects in the space. It seems that in tough market times like this, more and more people become Bitcoin maximalists and fail to see the value in many other altcoin projects.

With this is mind, Charlie Lee has spoken out about the value that the Litecoin project provides and the benefits of this digital currency. His recent tweet storm sums up some of these nicely:

“Litecoin has one of the most secure networks of all altcoins. Litecoin has over $150MM of ASIC hardware protecting it. Litecoin dominates Scrypt mining by far.”

“Litecoin has a ton of liquidity, which is important for people to get in/out of LTC. It is on practically every fiat and crypto exchange (Gemini soon), even more than ETH.”

“Many of the LN clients and apps also support LTC because they see the value of Litecoin. With atomic swaps, LTC interoperates with BTC on the Lightning Network.”

“Litecoin processes $200MM worth of transactions each day. And the network has worked flawlessly for 7 years!”

“Litecoin works today as a global decentralized sound money, that can’t be censored, can’t be reversed or taken away, can’t be counterfeited, and can’t be devalued. ”

Many of the above benefits are hard to argue with. Litecoin is well established and one of the major benefits we find is its liquidity. This was especially true when Bitcoin transaction costs rose at the beginning of 2018. Litecoin was a great alternative for many who needed to send and receive cryptocurrency between different wallets, accounts and exchanges.

Going Forward

The Litecoin project is so well established that it has become a staple in the portfolio of many cryptocurrency investors and traders. Its reliability and liquidity make it a great asset for fast processing and transfer between wallets.

]]>What is Bakkt? – The New Digital Asset Exchange from ICEhttp://cryptosuss.com/what-is-bakkt-the-new-digital-asset-exchange-from-ice/
Mon, 24 Sep 2018 15:00:41 +0000http://cryptosuss.com/?p=351Intorduction To answer the question of what is Bakkt, we must first take a step back. We must look at the organisation behind this set up and what their motives are. The Intercontinental Exchange, or ICE as they are commonly known, is the overarching organisation

To answer the question of what is Bakkt, we must first take a step back. We must look at the organisation behind this set up and what their motives are. The Intercontinental Exchange, or ICE as they are commonly known, is the overarching organisation in question here.

Originally founded in the year 2000, ICE is an electronic exchange that facilitates the purchase and sale of energy commodities. In 2013, ICE purchased NYSE Euronext, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange. They are now the third largest exchange group in the world. They boast twenty-three regulated exchanges and six clearing houses around the world.

Overview of Bakkt

On August 3rd of 2018, ICE announced that they will create an open and regulated, global ecosystem for digital assets. They want to allow consumers and institutions to buy, sell, store and spend digital assets on a seamless global network.

ICE have expressed that Bakkt’s first use case will be for trading and conversion of Bitcoin versus fiat currencies, as Bitcoin is currently the most liquid cryptocurrency. Jeffrey C. Sprecher, the CEO of the Intercontinental Exchange has stated:

“In bringing regulated, connected infrastructure together with institutional and consumer applications for digital assets, we aim to build confidence in the asset class on a global scale, consistent with our track record of bringing transparency and trust to previously unregulated markets.”

ICE is endeavouring to launch this initiative as early as November 2018 with a 1-day physically delivered Bitcoin contract, subject to approval.

What Bakkt will do for Crypto

The announcement of the Bakkt exchange by the ICE group is huge news for the crypto space. Institutional money coming into the cryptocurrency space is a topic that is being speculated about more frequently of late. When will it come? How will it come? What is stopping it?

To date, the influx of institutional money has been somewhat hampered by regulatory concerns. Also, the lack of ability for large institutions to easily inject funds into the crypto market has stifled any significant inflow. That sentiment is now beginning to change.

Large financial institutions like ICE are now recognising that it is a risk not to have any exposure to Bitcoin and digital assets. They will come under increasing pressure in the coming years to establish this exposure and the move to launch Bakkt is ICE’s first move towards it.

This move will also encourage crypto adoption and help people to use it in their everyday lives. ICE is even establishing a partnership with Starbucks to help consumers to convert their digital assets into US dollars for use in their stores.

The Future

By making digital assets easier to access for institutional investors and consumers alike, we could be about to see a large influx of funds into the crypto market. This could see the market capitalisation going to new highs upon the launch of these new investment vehicles. It is not only Bakkt that is venturing into these waters. The $2.4 Trillion Asset manager Fidelity also announced that they are planning to launch crypto products before the end of 2018.

ICE is setting itself up to be a frontrunner for the future of digital assets. Just as they positioned themselves in 2000 as an electronic exchange to bring trading and settlement into the digital age, they are now staking their claim for Bitcoin and digital assets.

]]>What is a DAPP?http://cryptosuss.com/what-is-a-dapp/
Fri, 21 Sep 2018 15:00:35 +0000http://cryptosuss.com/?p=347At this stage you probably know that decentralisation is at the core of what Bitcoin and most cryptocurrencies are about. Decentralisation of power and distribution of it amongst a network of actors is the premise upon which this ecosystem was birthed. This effort to alleviate

]]>At this stage you probably know that decentralisation is at the core of what Bitcoin and most cryptocurrencies are about. Decentralisation of power and distribution of it amongst a network of actors is the premise upon which this ecosystem was birthed. This effort to alleviate a centralised entity controlling and maintaining power was set out in the original Bitcoin white paper.

Since then, Bitcoin has given rise to a whole host of new decentralised currencies and projects. One of the natural progressions in this space has been the emergence of decentralised applications, or, DApps. Much of the growth around DApps has come from the creation of Ethereum, the world’s second largest crypto project.

Ethereum itself is a decentralised virtual world computer that allows anyone to run programmes on it and trust the results. This makes Ethereum an ideal platform for creating decentralised applications.

But what exactly is a DApp?

So what is a decentralised application, and how does it differ from a normal application? Well, a Dapp is an application that has its backend running on a decentralised peer to peer network. Normal applications run on centralised servers, and can be susceptible to a single point of failure. Decentralised applications are cryptographically stored on a blockchain to avoid such a single point of failure.

While the idea of DApps is still quite new, they do not really have one specific definition. It is hard to throw shade over everything that encompasses what a Dapp can do. Rather, there are characteristics that can be attributed to decentralised applications, like those mentioned above. Furthermore, the Ethereum foundation has put forth three types of Dapps as they see fit. These are outlined in their whitepaper but we have summarised them as follows:

Apps that manage money – These are applications that allow users to trasnact and exchange value in a peer to peer manner with the aid of a blockchain and its intrinsic currency. Bitcoin is a perfect example of this.

Apps that integrate money with real world events – This example could make use of real world events that trigger the execution of smart contracts. If certain criteria is met, like the arrival of cargo at a shipping port based on RFID tracking, then a smart contract is triggered and funds are exchanged between participants.

Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAO’s) – Put simply, DAO’s are leaderless organisations on the blockchain. DAO’s run on a set of pre programmed rules that control how members can vote and how to release company funds.

Benefits of Dapps

Decentralised applications have a number of advantages over traditional centralised apps.

Security – As we mentioned above, Dapps are created on a decentralised network and therefore have no single point of failure. They do not rely on one server to maintain uptime. Blockchains are also trustless and immutable by nature thereby securing the validity of the data associated with the DApp being built upon it.

Integration with Cryptocurrency – Dapps are easy to integrate with cryptocurrencies and can therefore incentivise users to mine and earn coins from using them. Dapps can also create their own unique tokens. Those on Ethereum, can use the ERC-20 standard to seamlessly create their own token based on the Ethereum blockchain.

Resistant to external Intervention – The decentralised nature of Dapps, and the fact that they can have pre programmed rules in place, means they are naturally resistant to external actors. They are essentially unstoppable applications that cannot be corrupted by corporations or governments.

The Future

We are still in the very early days of Blockchain technology and Decentralised Applications. Ethereum is currently the go to choice for many DApp developers. However, there are plenty of other projects like NEO, ICON, Cardano and Lisk that are building out Blockchains that can host DApps. It will be very interesting to see how this field grows within the Blockchain industry and what killer DApps will emerge as market leaders and grab the attention of the masses.

]]>10 Online Retailers that Accept Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencieshttp://cryptosuss.com/10-online-retailers-that-accept-bitcoin-and-other-cryptocurrencies/
Wed, 19 Sep 2018 15:00:44 +0000http://cryptosuss.com/?p=341Many people question the legitimacy and integrity of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. As with any new and emerging technology adoption can take time. In late 2017 we saw a huge bull run in the cryptocurrency market that created a hype and buzz that we had

]]>Many people question the legitimacy and integrity of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. As with any new and emerging technology adoption can take time. In late 2017 we saw a huge bull run in the cryptocurrency market that created a hype and buzz that we had not seen before. The market was in a frenzy with new people entering, buying and trading cryptos for the first time. It was the first real sense that this new decentralised ecosystem was being legitimised by the masses.

The market capitalisation of the entire cryptocurrency market went from $18 Billion all the way up to highs of $814 Billion during the course of 2017. It has since retracted down and currently hovers around the $200 Billion mark. With such monumental growth, many organisations and retailers began to see this new technology as something that was not going to go away.

Now, there are many online businesses and retailers who have moved to position themselves as early cryptocurrency adopters. By positioning themselves to be able to accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a means of payment, the are setting the precedent for this new technology. Giving users the option to pay in cryptocurrencies shows consumers they are adaptable and willing to move and embrace new technologies.

The below are a list of some of the major online retailers that now accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a form of payment for services and products.

The List

OverStock – Overstock.com is an online retailer that specialises in home decor, furniture and the selling of close out goods. They also stock a number of accessories for men and women. They also accept payment in the form of Bitcoin and have been doing so since 2014. Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne is a long time ambassador for trying to take power away from large financial institutions. He even took Overstock public in 2002 outside of wall street, by raising money from the general public. Interestingly, the means he used to raise capital for overstock, is extremely similar to the way we see cryptocurrency projects raising funds with ICO’s today.

Microsoft – Microsoft need no introduction. Microsoft now support payment with Bitcoin and users can add Bitcoin to their microsoft account. It can then be used to purchase games, movies, and apps in the Windows and Xbox stores. They currently only support this limited number of offerings.

Shopify – For those unfamiliar, Shopify is an online ecommerce website building application. They help businesses create online ecommerce stores to sell their products and services. Shopify now allows merchants who build websites through their software to accept Bitcoin with their new Bitcoin payment gateway. Thousands of Shopify store owners are now already accepting Bitcoin payments.

Bitcoin.travel – Bitcoin.travel is a travel price comparison site that allows consumers to pay using cryptocurrency. You can find deals to top travel destinations, search for hotel deals and search for flight, just like price comparison tools like Kayak and Skyscanner.

Purse.io – Purse.io is an online retiler that allows consumers to purchase various Amazon.com products through their platform. Even better, you can get many of them for a 15% discount though Purse.io. You can browse the various categories and even import your Amazon wish list for ease of use.

Namecheap – Namecheap is a domain registrar and web hosting service that has embraced the new cryptocurrency economy. Namecheap now allows you to use Bitcoin to purchase domains, web hosting, SSL certificates and WhoisGuard.

Pizza for coins – You may have heard about the infamous incident of a Bitcoin developer who purchased 2 pizzas in 2010 for 10,000 BTC. Now Pizza for coins allows consumers to order pizzas online with their hard earned crypto. They now accept over 50 different cryptocurrencies as payment for delicious pizza on their website.

NewEgg – Newegg is a go to resource for all things hardware. They sell a whole host of computing hardware and consumer electronics. You can start shopping with Bitcoin today as newegg now support Bitcoin payments directly on their website.

eGifter – For all your gift card needs. eGifter is revolutionising gift cards with premium branded cards that can be sent by email, text, or hand delivered. You can now use eGifter to shop hundreds of gift cards with Bitcoin.

PureVPN – PureVPN is here to keep all your browsing needs safe and secure. Keeping in line with their vision on privacy and anonymity, PureVPN now accepts payment in the form of Bitcoin.

The Future

So there we have it. This is just a short list of 10 online retailers who have made the move to embrace and support this new and ever expanding technology. As the entire industry continues to grow, more and more businesses are embracing Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as a method of payment. In 5 years, it could be the standard across every aspect of online commerce. Only time will tell.

]]>The Ethereum Casper Protocolhttp://cryptosuss.com/the-ethereum-casper-protocol/
Mon, 17 Sep 2018 15:00:07 +0000http://cryptosuss.com/?p=338The Basics If you don’t know the basics of Ethereum already, you can take a look at the introduction we wrote about the world’s second largest crypto project. In short, Ethereum is a decentralised platform for applications that run exactly as programmed without any chance

If you don’t know the basics of Ethereum already, you can take a look at the introduction we wrote about the world’s second largest crypto project. In short, Ethereum is a decentralised platform for applications that run exactly as programmed without any chance of fraud, censorship, or third-party interference.

It is a programmable blockchain protocol and it uses its own token, Ether, to fuel the transactions being carried out on the blockchain.

Casper

Ethereum has gone through many different upgrades and we spoke about some of these in our last article about cryptocurrency forks. Now, the Ethereum Blockchain is set to upgrade its consensus mechanism to Proof of Stake. Currently, Ethereum’s protocol is more similars to Bitcoin and uses Proof of Work.

There has been much talk about consensus mechanisms and which method is best. We talked about the differences of PoW vs PoS already. Much concern has also been highlighted from key Ethereum developers about the safety and scalability of the network. Vlad Zamfir, a pioneer Ethereum developer has even stated that

With the nature of Ethereum and all of this new technology, we are still in the early stages of seeing what works and what does not. This means Ethereum and other protocols are testing new ideas and implementing upgrades to enhance and improve their platforms.

So what is the Casper update?

Firstly, the FFG part of the Casper upgrade will see the Ethereum move to a hybridised PoW/PoS consensus mechanism. PoW will continue being used and PoS will be used to validate every 50th or 100th block. This is being done in order to ease the transition from PoW to PoS. This Friendly Finality Gadget upgrade was proposed by Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s co-founder.

Second is the proposed Correcting by Construction. This part of the upgrade was proposed by Vlad Zamfir and it aims to help nodes on the Ethereum network in making a correct decision or comes to agreement on the version of blockchain that is most appropriate. Without going into the complexity of it, this is a way to get computers on a network to come to an agreement, even if some of the computers happen to crash, lie or act in a strange way.

The Casper update is one of the largest upgrades to Ethereum’s protocol to date. As we move forward in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space we will see many protocols testing new and improving ways of operating.

Benefits

The Ethereum Casper protocol is being implemented to usher in a whole host of benefits. As we have stated before, PoW is an extremely energy intensive means of consensus. Transitioning to a hybridized PoW/PoS will help to lower the energy needed to verify blocks on Ethereum’s network. Casper also seeks to speed up consensus on the network and reduce centralisation and reliance on miners. Finally, as we saw with the likes of CryptoKitties, the Ethereum network has been prone to congestion at times, especially when throughput increases and activity is very high. Casper is going to open up the way to allow the Ethereum network to scale, even when activity rises.